DT 
14 

er32 



AFEICAN 



BIBLE PICTUEES; 



Stricture Bam m\1i Cwstoms in ^tm. 



BY 

REV. M. OFEICER, 

MISSIONARY TO WESTERN AFRICA. 



J 



PHILADELPHIA: 

PUBLISHED BY THE 

LUTHERAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION. 

No. 42 North Ninth Street. 
1859. 



Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1859, by 

THE LUTHERAN BOAllD OF PUBLICATION, 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States for tlio 
Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 






INTRODUCTION. 



Not a few of the scenes and occurrences witnessed 
by the traveller in Western Africa, remind him of 
some portion of Scripture, or some incident therein 
recorded. This is doubtless partly owing to the fact 
that the climate and productions of that country are 
much the same as those of the Eastern lands, to which 
the descriptive and historic portions of Scripture 
mostly relate — partly to the fact that heathen people 
in all countries and of all races are, in their social 
condition, much alike; and therefore the modern 
heathen of Africa would necessarily institute usages 
similar to those of the ancient heathen mentioned in 
the Bible — but mostly owing, perhaps, to the fact 
that the negroes are descendants of the ancient Cush- 
ites or Ethiopians that once dwelt in the countries 
of the East, where most of the scenes of the Scrip- 
tures are laid, and therefore would naturally retain 

1* (V) 



VI INTRODUCTION. 

among them some at least of the same usages that 
were prevalent in the East many centuries ago. 

But however this may be, it is certain that during 
the time which I spent in that country, I was often 
forcibly reminded of many Scripture scenes and 
usages, by what I saw in African life around me; 
and as some incidents there witnessed seemed to 
throw light on certain portions of Scripture, I then 
first thought of preparing this little volume, which I 
hope may afford youthful readers some information 
about Africa, and also serve to increase their interest 
in the study of the Bible. 



CONTENTS. 



Eetiring at Noon Page 9 

Dwelling in Walled Towns 12 

Transacting Business in the Gates 17 

Petty Kings and Kingdoms 21 

Presenting Rings as Signals of Authority 25 

Denying Burial to Enemies 27 

Pronouncing Curses or Imprecations 30 

Making Lamentation for the Dead 34 

Giving the Cup of Consolation 37 

Casting Bread upon the Waters 41 

Defending Towns with Walls of Fire 45 

Washing Hands in Innocency 48 

Use of Talismans or Charms 62 

Observing Signs — Practising Divination 57 

Mingling True and False Religions...* 63 

Handing down Traditions 66 



(vii) 



AFRICAN BIBLE PICTURES; 

OB, 

SCRIPTURE SCENES AND CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 



RETIRING AT NOON. 

The country of Western Africa is the same 
as was formerly known by the name of Gui- 
nea. The northern part of it was called Upper 
Guinea, and the southern part Lower Guinea. 
Diiferent portions of it w^ere also named after 
the things chiefly produced in them, and ex- 
ported to other lands — as the Grain Coast, 
the Gold Coast, the Slave Coast, and the Ivory 
Coast. But all these districts are embraced 
in what is now known as Western Africa. 

This country lies on the opposite side of 
the Atlantic Ocean from South America ; and 
being thus far south, the climate is warm at 
all seasons, and during portions of the year 
it is oppressively hot. Although the morn- 

(9) 



10 SCRIPTUKE SCENES AND 



ings and evenings are comfortably cool, yet, 
in the middle of the day, when the sun pours 
his burning rays perpendicularly on the earth, 
the heat becomes almost intolerable to those 
who have been accustomed to cooler climates. 
Even the natives complain much of the mid- 
day heat, and generally cease from labor for 
two or three hours, and retire to their houses, 
or to the cool shade of some favorite grove. 
In these agreeable retreats they often have 
hammocks, or hanging-beds, suspended be- 
tween two trees, and on these, or on couches 
of some other kind, they recline to take their 
accustomed rest, or ''nap at noon." 

Some portions of the land of Palestine, 
where most of the events recorded in the 
Bible took place, are also very warm during 
part of the year; and in consequence of this, 
the same custom of resting at noon seems to 
have prevailed among the former inhabitants 
of that noted land. In 1 Sam. ii. 11, we read 
that Saul and his army " slew the Ammon- 
ites until the heat of the day :" but it seems 
that they then desisted, although thej^ were 
accustomed to follow up their defeated and 
scattered enemies. They no doubt therefore 
ceased because of the great heat that came 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 11 



on at the hour of noon. We learn also from 
2 Sam. iv. 5, that when '' the sons of Rimmon 
came about the heat of the day to the house 
of Ish-bosheth," for the purpose of taking his 
life, they found him lying ''on a bed at- 
noon'* — that is, taking his usual mid-day rest. 
They no doubt expected that he would be 
thus retired, and perhaps asleep, at that hour, 
and therefore went then, that they might 
more easily succeed in their wicked designs. 
IIow often in various parts of Western 
Africa, on seeing the people repose at noon, 
under a cluster of magnificent palm-trees, or 
the fruitful orange, or the broad-leafed and 
beautiful plantain, have I thought of the de- 
scription which is given of the blessedness 
of Christ's reign, in the fourth chapter and 
fourth verse of Micah, where the prophet says 
" they shall set every man under his vine and 
under his fig-tree, and none shall make them 
afraid." Or when seeing the people, almost 
overcome with the excessive heat of the noon- 
day sun, eagerly seek the cool and pleasant 
shade, how forcibly have I been reminded of 
the declaration of Isaiah, that, in Christ's 
reign, a man shall be to his fellow "as the 
shadow of a great rock in a weary land " is 
to the fainting traveller. 



12 SCEIPTUKE SCENES AND 



DWELLING IN WALLED TOWNS. 

(See Frontispiece.) 

Vast portions of Western Africa lie in an 
uncultivated state, and are not occupied by 
any settled inhabitants. Some of these re- 
gions are rugged hills and mountains, covered 
with massive rocks — some are marshy dis- 
tricts, overgrown with swamp timber and 
water-grass, and some again are wide plains 
and valleys of fertile land, but covered so 
densely with trees and shrubbery as to be 
almost impenetrable to the traveller. 

In these great waste places, multitudes of 
ferocious animals lurk during the day-time; 
and going forth at night, prowl about the 
country in search of prey, thus making the 
night a time of danger to domestic animals 
and to men. But in addition to these destruc- 
tive beasts, there are frequent gangs of rob- 
bers, who roam over the country by night for 
purposes of pillage and murder. Nor are 
these all. The settled tribes often fall upon 
each other in times of scarcity, and under the 
dark cover of the night, destroy each other's 
homes and property and life. 

Because of these manifold dangers, the 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 13 



people do not dwell in separate families 
throughout the country, as a large portion of 
the inhabitants of most other lands do, but 
they live together in towns and villages, for 
mutual aid and protection. Even those em- 
ployed in tilling the soil, do not reside upon 
their farms, but only go out to them each 
morning, to engage in the labors of the day, 
and in the evening return to lodge in their 
village homes. 

When the people of a town become able 
to perform the labor, they generally enclose 
it with some kind of wall or barricade, to 
render themselves more secure from the dan- 
gers just mentioned. Some of these fortifi- 
cations are stockades or picket-fences, made 
by planting sticks of timber on end in the 
ground, and so close together, that neither 
man nor any dangerous animal can pass 
through. 

The town of Bama, near Mendi Mission, 
had, when I was there, three of these stock- 
ades about ten feet apart, running parallel 
entirely round the town. The outer fence 
was made just so close as not to admit a man 
through the openings between the logs, and 
w^as more than twenty feet high. The se- 
cond one was much more compact, but not 
2 



14 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



SO high, and being composed of a kind of 
tree whose trunk and branches continue to 
grow when cut into pieces and planted up- 
right in the ground, it was a live fence, be- 
coming more close and firm every year, and 
affording an ornament as well as a protection 
to the town. The third, or innermost fence, 
was made of split logs or slabs planted against 
each other two plies thick, so as to cover all 
the openings, and render it proof against 
bullets. 

Other towns, however, are surrounded with 
walls made of mud or clay. These walls are 
constructed by putting on one layer at a time 
of soft cleij balls, which readily yield to the 
shape of the harder layer beneath them, and 
adhering firmly to it, soon become sufiiciently 
hard by drying to support another tier placed 
in like manner upon them. Thus layer after 
layer, as each one becomes partially dry, the 
wall is built up to the height of ten or fifteen 
feet. 

This sort of wall I saw at the town of La- 
vanna, on the Big Boom River. The wall 
at the base was very thick, but was gradually 
drawn in or narrowed as it rose, till at the 
top it was only the thickness of a single boul- 
der. The sideSj however, were too nearly 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 15 



perpendicular, and too smooth to be scaled 
without the aid of a ladder. A few feet from 
this wall, on the inside, there was a picket- 
fence, running parallel w^ith it round the 
town, and the space between was driven full 
of small sticks of hard wood, which, being 
made sharp at the top, prevented an enemy 
from passing down the inside of the mud- 
w^all, if he should in any way reach its summit. 
In towns with these kinds of defence, the 
Africans are completely protected against fe- 
rocious animals, and are also tolerably safe 
from bands of plunderers and the rabbles of 
war-men, neither of which often carry with 
them cannon or other engines of w^arby which 
such structures could be readily demolished. 

From the frequent mention of towns and 
villages in various parts of the Bible, it seems 
that from a very early period the inhabitants 
of the East drew together into communities 
of this kind ; and it most likely originated in 
the dangers to which the people were exposed 
from the prevalence of w^ild beasts, and the 
uncivilized state of society in those ancient 
times. 

It appears, too, that the eastern people w^ere 
early accustomed to enclose their tow^ns w^ith 



16 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



walls. The towns of the Canaanites were 
thus fortified when the Israelites went up 
from Egypt to take possession of that pro- 
mised land. For in the Book of Numbers 
xiii. 28, we learn that when the spies who 
had been sent to examine the land, returned 
to the wilderness of Paran, where the Israel- 
ites were encamped, they said ''the people 
be strong that dwell in the land, and the 
cities are walled and very great." In Deut. 
iii. 5, Moses, speaking of the "three score" 
or sixty cities that the children of Israel had 
conquered on the east side of the river Jordan, 
says, ''All these cities were fenced with high 
walls, gates and bars." Now these cities 
could not have been great compared with such 
places as Jerusalem afterwards became, nor 
compared with such cities as New York or 
London ; for the country in which they were 
situated was too small to sustain so many as 
sixty populous cities. They were perhaps 
more like the present walled towns of Western 
Africa, although their walls may have been 
built in a somewhat different way. 

The great difference between the constant 
dangers and alarms amidst which the inhabi- 
tants of heathen countries live, and the peace 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 17 



and safety which we enjoy in this Christian 
land, clearly shows the great power and good- 
ness of the Gospel, and it may encourage us 
to hope that the time foretold by the Prophets 
may yet come, when " the earth shall be filled 
with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord" 
— when ''nation shall not lift up a sword 
against nation, neither shall they learn war 
anymore" — when ''the meek shall inherit 
the earth, and shall delight themselves in the 
abundance of peace." And although there 
is no real safety in walled towns or in cities 
built and fortified by men, yet there is a city 
whose inhabitants are entirely secure. It is 
the "City of God" — the New Jerusalem — 
the home of the righteous, where those enter 
whose names are written in the Lamb's Book 
of Life, " where thieves do not break through 
nor steal, and where there is neither pain nor 
sorrow. There the wicked cease from troubling 
and the weary are at rest.'' 



TRANSACTINa BUSINESS IN THE GATES. 

In the walls which surround the African 
towns, there are always several gateways 
through which the inhabitants pass in and 

9* TJ 



18 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



out. During the day these passages are gene- 
rally kept open, but at night they are closed 
with large wooden doors turning on rude 
hinges at the sides, or else with several logs 
of timber suspended from the top of the gate- 
way in such a manner as to be easily let down 
over the passage. 

As the people all lodge in the town at 
night, and go forth during the day to their 
labors in the surrounding country, there is a 
great concourse at the gates during certain 
hours of the day. Early in the morning nu- 
merous companies of workmen are passing 
out to their fields and other places of employ- 
ment ; and in the evening, about sunset, re- 
turning from various parts of the country, 
they again throng the gates as they pass 
through to their homes. 

Because of these frequent and regular 
gatherings of people at the gates, they become 
places of relating and hearing news — of dis- 
cussing matters of public interest — of settling 
disputes and misunderstandings, and of at- 
tending to business in general. The gates 
therefore become places of general resort, not 
only for the idle and dissolute, but also for 
the orderly and industrious. K a man desires 
to speak to a certain individual, he has only 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 19 



to go to the gate in due season, and wait 
till he comes along. Or if a number of per- 
sons desire to attend to any business together, 
the gate will be the most convenient place 
of meeting. And since this is the case, there 
are generally sheds or open houses erected 
near the entrances, for public use. In these 
the head men or principal men of the town 
are almost constantly occupied in attesting 
contracts and settling disputes, and trying 
cases of litigation. 

Often, while witnessing these busy scenes 
at the gateways of African towns, have I 
thought of similar transactions recorded in 
the Bible. Thus in Gen. xxxiv. 20 and 21, 
we learn that when Hamor the Hivite and 
his son Schechem were anxious to have Jacob 
and his family settle in their country, and 
dwell with them, but desired first to consult 
the people of their own town about making 
that kind of proposal to Jacob, they " came 
unto the gate of their city, and communed 
with the men, saying, these men are peaceable 
with us, therefore let them dwell in the land 
and trade therein." Here the gate seems to 
have been a place of discussing and deciding 
a question of public interest. It is also seen 



20 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



in the 23d chapter of Genesis, that when 
Sarah, the wife of Abraham, died at Hebron, 
and he wished to purchase a burying-place 
from Ephron, who lived with the children of 
rieth, the contract was made: ''In the au- 
dience of the children of Heth, even of all 
that went in at the gates of his city." And 
again, the whole transaction was confirmed, 
" In the presence of the children of Heth, 
before all that went in at the gates of his 
city." In the Book of Ruth iv. 1 and 2, it is 
said that Boaz, desiring to secure from the 
near kinsman of Ruth the le2:al rirfit to 
marry her, " went up to the gate and sat him 
down there : and behold, the kinsman of 
whom Boaz spake came by : unto whom he 
said. Ho, such a one! turn aside, sit down 
here. And he turned aside and sat down. 
And he took ten men of the elders of the city, 
and he said. Sit ye down here. And they 
sat down." Before these men thus called to- 
gether Boaz laid his request ; and in the 11th 
verse it is said that when the agreement was 
made, " all the people that were in the gate, 
and the elders, said. We are witnesses." Thus 
it appears that the whole transaction took 
place at the gate, and that the matter was first 
arranged before the town officers, and after- 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 21 



wards ratified by them and all the assem- 
blage of people. Perhaps there was at the 
gate some kind of court-room or public place, 
in which contracts were legally confirmed and 
claims to property adjusted, much the same 
as those seen in the towns of Western Africa 
at the present day. 



PETTY KINGS AND KINaDOMS. 

In most parts of Western Africa the tra- 
veller meets with numerous chiefs or rulers, 
who claim the title of king, and who are 
generally honored with that distinction by 
the people of the country. Though mostly 
poor, and clothed with but limited authority, 
they make great efibrts to display their roy- 
alty, always having about them an array of 
servants, and, when travelling through the 
country, employing an armed force as a sort 
of body-guard. When in the presence of their 
own people at home, they usually hold in their 
hand a whip, a staff*, an elephant's tail, or 
something of the kind, as an emblem of 
authority. 

In the southern part of Western Africa, 
each of these native kings rules over a terri- 



22 SCKIPTURE SCENES AND 



tory of considerable extent ; but those living 
in the vicinity of Liberia and Sierra Leone, 
have for the most part but limited dominions, 
often not larger, each, than a single county 
in the State of Ohio or Pennsylvania. And 
even over this small district the king exer- 
cises but a partial control ; for the chiefs and 
head men of the several towns within his 
domain have also more or less to say in the 
afiairs of state. No alliances can be formed 
with other tribes — no war declared — no 
treaty entered into — no land disposed of — 
nor any new^ law enacted, without their con- 
sent. Still the kings are recognized as the 
chief rulers, and have in some particulars 
considerable power. 

These petty kingdoms or tribes, being so 
numerous, and situated along the same rivers, 
are almost continually at variance, and often 
at war. It frequently happens also, that 
when two tribes engage in war, others near 
them are involved in the contest, and join in 
the work of murder and destruction, till the 
whole country becomes a scene of confusion 
and alarm, if not of ruin and desoki^tion. 

I became acquainted with a number of 
these so-called kings in the Sherbro, Mendi, 
and Timany countries, and was compelled to 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 23 



learn something of their warfare. At one 
time, during my abode among them, those 
living on the north side of the river Boom, 
joined together against those on the south 
side, and for many weeks the Mission, which- 
was not far from the river, was kept in con- 
stant alarm. War parties were continually 
scouring the country, blowing war-horns, 
firing guns, and shouting to each other in 
triumph or distress. When a battle was 
fought during the night, the whole of the fol- 
lowing day was occupied in pursuing the 
vanquished party, either to capture them as 
slaves, or to subject them to death by cruel 
torture. 

The political conditions of that unhappy 
country under the rule of these petty kings 
is doubtless very much like that of Canaan 
at the time when the people of Israel entered 
it under the command of Joshua. There 
were then in Canaan a large number of tribes, 
each headed by a ruler called a king; for in 
the twelfth chapter of Joshua there are given 
the names of thirty-one kings and their cities 
that the children of Israel conquered on the 
west side of the river Jordan, These king- 
doms could not have been large, since the 



24 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



whole country which embraced them all is 
not more than half as large as the State of 
Ohio. Perhaps they were equally as small 
as the present negro kingdoms of Western 
Africa. 

The kings of Canaan also joined together 
in war against other allied kings just as the 
various African tribes are now accustomed 
to do. In the fifth verse of the tenth chapter 
of Joshua, it is said that ''the five kings of 
the Amorites, the king of Jerusalem (then a 
heathen town), the king of Hebron, the king 
of Jarmouth, the king of Lachish, the king 
of Eglon, gathered themselves together, and 
went up, they and their hosts, and encamped 
before Gibeon, and made war against it." 
These five kings were then too strong for the 
Gibeonites, and therefore they were in great 
trouble and distress at the prospect of falling 
into the hands of their savage enemies, by 
whom they would be tortured to death ; and 
having before formed a league of friendship 
with Israel, they sent men to Joshua, saying, 
'' Slack not thy hand from thy servants : come 
up to us quickly, and save us and help us." 

I never realized the horrors of the scenes 
described in the Book of Joshua till thrown 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 25 



among the heathen of Africa, and compelled 
to witness the degradation and cruelty of 
these pagan tribes, and the awful woes and 
miseries attending their incessant wars. Nor 
did I ever before set a proper estimate on the, 
blessings of peace and safety which I had 
always enjoyed in our own civilized land. 



PRESENTING RINGS AS SIGNALS 
OF AUTHORITY. 

Kixa Ibeboo once sent a young man to 
the Mission to prevent his warriors, who were 
then in the adjoining countr}", from molest- 
ing us, or carrying away the Mission pro- 
perty. AVhen he arrived at the place, he told 
us that he had come in the king's name, and 
with authority to act in the king's stead ; and 
then putting forth his right hand, he exhi- 
bited on his finger a silver ring, saying that 
it was the king's ring, and that all the war- 
men of their party were obliged to obey his 
orders while wearing that ring. This we 
found to be the case, for whenever any dis- 
orderly person was shown the ring, he at once 
yielded to the directions of the ofiicial who 
wore it. 
3 



26 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



It is a common custom among the African 
kings, when appointing any one to transact 
business in their stead, or to act as their min- 
ister, to give him some article that they have 
worn on their own persons, or have borne 
about the country with them, as a sign of his 
appointment, and the ring is perhaps more 
generally used for this purpose than anything 
else. 

This practice appears to have existed 
among the kings of ancient times ; for in the 
Book of Esther iii. 10 and 11, it is said that 
king Ahasuerus, on authorizing Haman to 
destroy all the Jews in his dominion, '' took 
his ring from his hand and gave it unto Ha- 
man." Letters were then written to every 
province throughout the kingdom, command- 
ing the governors to put to death all the Jews 
on a certain day, and the letters were " sealed 
with the king's ring." This impression of 
the ring upon the letters was the seal of their 
authority. 

In like manner it is stated in Gen. xli. 42, 
that Pharaoh, king of Egypt, having ap- 
pointed Joseph to rule over his house and 
over all the land of Egypt, " took off his ring 
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 27 



hand/' This was the signal of his high au- 
thority, and accordingly the people obeyed 
him with promptness all over the land. 



DENYING BURIAL TO ENEMIES. 

During one of the African wars, an armed 
force of about four hundred men came over 
from the Lower Boom country, and made an 
attack on the town of Bama, near Kaw Mendi. 
The besiegers were defeated with consider- 
able loss, and being scattered in the surround- 
ing fields and woods, the inhabitants of the 
town rushed forth to hunt them down, and 
capture or destroy them. The whole of the 
next day was spent in this dreadful work, and 
many slain men lay on all sides of the town, 
and some on the Mission grounds, where 
they had been overtaken and smitten down. 

From regard both to decency and health, 
we were desirous to have these dead bodies 
buried in the earth. But knowing the feel- 
ings of the natives in regard to the burial of 
enemies, we went first to the chief of the 
town, to secure his sanction to their inter- 
ment, presenting the plea that the decay of 
so many dead bodies in the open air might 



28 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



create disease. The chief readily admitted 
this fact, and even acknowledged that on this 
account what we requested was very reason- 
able, but said that lie could not for any reason 
w^hatever grant us permission to bury the 
slain enemies of his people, as it was contrary 
to the well established and invariable custom 
of the country. We urged the necessity and 
propriety of changing the custom, as it was 
manifestly a bad one. But all was in vain — 
the usage was fixed, and must be observed ; 
and besides, his people could not allow their 
enemies to be honored w^ith burial ; and if 
we should inter the bodies of those slain on 
our ground, it would be understood as an act 
of hostility to him and his people. The hag- 
gard forms therefore continued to lie upon 
the surface of the earth till devoured by wild 
animals, and fowls and insects, of which there 
are vast numbers in the country. 

From certain passages of Scripture it ap- 
pears that the ancient heathen sometimes 
denied burial to enemies and criminals, but 
the Jews granted them interment. In the 
account of the punishment inflicted on Pha- 
raoh's chief taker, given in the fortieth chap- 
ter of Genesis, it is stated that after having 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 29 



been put to death by hanging upon a tree, 
his body was exposed, till the flesh of it was 
eaten by the birds of the air. In Jer. xxxvi. 
30, the prophet, when speaking of the sore 
calamities that the heathen king of Babylon- 
would bring upon Jehoiakim, king of Judah, 
says : " His dead body shall be cast out in 
the day to the heat, and in the night to the 
frost." In the first part of the seventy-ninth 
Psalm, where there is a sorrowful description 
of the miseries which the heathen had in- 
flicted on Jerusalem, the writer says : " The 
dead bodies of thy servants have they given 
to be meat unto the fowls of heaven, the flesh 
of thy saints unto the beasts of the earth." 

I shall never forget the oppressive sadness 
which I felt during the period already men- 
tioned, when the ghastly forms of men lay 
uncovered upon the surface of the earth 
around me, and were torn asunder and de- 
voured by prowling beasts of the forest, and 
shrieking birds of prey. How awful indeed 
must have been those similar but more dread- 
ful scenes which have several times taken 
place at the great city of Jerusalem, when God, 
m punishment for its wickedness, gave it up 
to the ravages and cruelties of heathen nations. 
3* 



30 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



PKONOUNCING CUESES OR IMPRE- 
CATIONS. 

AMONa the Africans, almost everything 
that is said by way of reproach or censure is 
called cursing ; and the natives generally be- 
come either greatly alarmed or offended if 
one of their own number, and more particu- 
larly if a stranger, calls them by disgraceful 
epithets, or scolds at their conduct. But be- 
sides all this, there are in use among them 
various set forms of cursing or pronouncing 
imprecations, which are thought to be an un- 
failing means of inflicting injuries upon those 
against whom they are employed. Some of 
these forms are thought to be more powerful 
than others ; but if any one of them is rightly 
used, it is believed that sooner or later the 
evil invoked will surely come. 

The pagan priests, who are commonly re- 
garded as most skilful in this mysterious and 
terrible art, are greatly feared by the common 
people. And in like manner a missionary is 
often regarded with great dread, until well 
enough known to inspire the people with 
confidence in his friendship. The prayers 
of missionaries are especially alarming to 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 31 



those who think themselves alluded to in 
these addresses to God. 

A missionary with whom I was associated 
frequently visited a town on the Little Boom 
river for the purpose of holding religious . 
meetings with the inhabitants of the place. 
He was at first well received by both the 
chief and his subjects ; but in one of his dis- 
courses, having spoken against some of their 
heathen practices, he greatly offended the 
chief, who, on his return next time, threat- 
ened to drive him from the town, and also 
made some effort to prevent the people from 
attending preaching. The missionary, how- 
ever, preached again, and in the closing ex- 
ercises prayed that the chief might be con- 
verted to Christianity, and that God would 
remove all obstacles to the progress of true 
religion in the town and country. This was 
some way understood as an imprecation upon 
the chief, and caused great displeasure and 
alarm among his friends, while the chief 
himself was almost terror-stricken. The 
preacher was nevertheless pemiitted to re- 
turn home unmolested ; but in a day or two 
afterwards the chief was taken sick, and the 
head-men of the town, as well as himself, at 
once concluded that the illness was caused 



32 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



by the supposed imprecation. They there- 
fore sent a messenger to the mission, stating 
that the curse had taken effect, and that if 
tlie chief died, all the inhabitants of the town 
were determined to avenge the injury, and 
that nothing would appease them but the life 
of the offender. They also proposed that if 
the preacher would revoke the curse, so that 
the health of the chief would be restored, 
they would overlook all that had been done, 
and would be as friendly as before. For a few 
days there was much feeling manifested by 
the sick chief's people ; but as he soon reco- 
vered, they became reconciled, thinking that 
the imprecation had been recalled, and that 
their threats had so intimidated the mission- 
ary as to prevent him from attempting again 
to injure themselves or their ruler; and they 
no doubt think so to this day. 

There are instances recorded in the Bible 
where good men, in former times, declared 
or foretold that certain calamities would be- 
fall particular cities and individuals ; as when 
the ancient prophets foretold the downfall of 
Nineveh, and Babylon, and Jerusalem ; and 
also when Noah made known to Ham that 
the descendants of his son Canaan would be 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 33 



enslaved by the descendants of Sliem and 
Japhetli. In these cases, however, the evils 
named were not invoked by the prophets; 
they were simply announced or foretold as 
punishments that would be sent upon those 
cities and families for their great wickedness. 

But in the twenty-second chapter of the 
book of Numbers, w^e learn that the ancient 
Moabites entertained the same notions in re- 
gard to imprecations as the African heathen 
do now. For it is there related that when 
Balak, king of the Moabites, became greatly 
alarmed at the victorious march of the Israel- 
ites, on their way to Canaan, he sent messen- 
gers to a noted enchanter by the name of 
Balaam, and requested him to come and 
"curse Israel," and thereby enable him to 
overcome them. He also declared to Balaam 
that he knew that whoever was cursed by 
him w^as cursed indeed ; and he promised to 
promote the enchanter to great honor, and to 
reward him bountifully, if only he would 
come and curse these people. 

Balaam at last went to Balak ; but, what- 
ever may have been his powers of magic, he 
was not able by that means to inflict any in- 
jury on Israel ; for we are told in the twenty- 
third and twenty -fourth chapters, that al- 

c 



34 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



though Balak continued his entreaties and 
his offers of reward, yet Balaam was unable 
to accomplish w^hat he desired. The Israelites 
conquered their enemies, and pursued their 
journey to the land of promise. The curses 
of the wicked, like their prayers, are in- 
effectual. 



MAKING LAMENTATION FOR THE DEAD. 

When we were descending the Big Boom 
river, a young man who had fallen from the 
top of a palm-tree, in which he had been 
gathering palm-nuts, was taken up dead, and 
carried to a small town on the bank of the 
river. We landed at the same place, and, 
after ascending the steep bank on which the 
town w^as built, we w^alked through the thick 
cluster of palm, plantain, and banana trees, 
whose long pendant leaves and branches 
drooped mournfully over our heads. The 
path leading to the village w^as narrow and 
winding, and before making the last turn 
which brought us to the entrance, we heard 
the sound of many voices mingling in dole- 
ful cries and lamentation. As we passed on, 
we soon saw the corpse of the youth, neatly 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 35 



enfolded in a new clean mat, and placed in 
a sort of court, ready to be conveyed to the 
lonely grave. 

The mourning women, the sound of whose 
wailing had reached us in the grove, were- 
standing, kneeling, and sitting around the 
dead body. Their hair was unbraided, and 
large blisters, caused by chafing the skin with 
coarse cloths, together with wounds made by 
other means, covered great portions of their 
breasts and arms, and were rendered more 
painful by the application of ashes and other 
burning substances. The cries of these wo- 
men were so truly plaintive, and their appear- 
ance so melancholy and affecting, that we 
were almost moved to weep in sympathy. 
Some of the mourners were doubtless rela- 
tives of the unfortunate youth, but most of 
them were professional ''mourning women" 
who were accustomed to attend on funeral 
occasions, and make lamentation for the 
dead. 

The custom of thus employing mourners 
at funerals prevails among all the tribes of 
Western Africa. The lamentation is con- 
tinued incessantly from the time at which 
the death occurs till the next morning after 
the corpse is deposited in the tomb ; and then 



36 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



it is often renewed each night for a week or 
more, and at stated periods afterwards for 
many months. The mourning is usually ac- 
companied with other loud noises, such as 
beating drums, clapping hands, and firing 
guns. 

If some of the relatives of the deceased 
are too far distant to attend the funeral, they 
sometimes ''keep the cry," as it is called, in 
the place where thej^ are when the intelligence 
of their loss reaches them. On these occasions 
only a few intimate friends are invited to join 
in the demonstrations of sorrow ; but still the 
lamentation is not neaiected. 



"&" 



We learn from Lev. xix. 28, that God com- 
manded the Jews " not to make any cuttings 
in their flesh for the dead, nor print any marks 
upon their bodies,'' as the heathen nations 
around them then did, and as the African 
heathen now do ; but they were accustomed 
to employ mourners at the funerals of their 
friends. In Jer. ix. 17 and 18, the prophet, 
when describing the destruction which God 
would bring upon the Jews for their disobe- 
dience, says, " Call for the mouring women, 
that they may come; and send for cunning 
women (skilled in mourning or making dole- 



i 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 37 



fal noises) that they may come ; and let them 
make haste, and take up a wailing for us, 
that our eyes may run down with tears." 

In ancient times, too, mourners were ac- 
customed to make use of some kind of mu- 
sical instruments in connection with their 
wailings ; for it is stated in Matt. ix. 23, that 
when the Saviour went to the house of a cer- 
tain ruler, whose daughter had died, ''He saw 
the minstrels and people making a noise." 

Death is always a solemn and awful event, 
and in all countries there are bitter sighs and 
tears when a beloved friend is called away, 
and the lifeless form is laid in the dark and 
silent grave. But the practice of inviting 
persons to make mournful noises, like many 
of the extravagant displays at funerals in our 
own country at the present time, seems to be 
entirely unsuitable to the solemnity of such 
occasions. In the sorrows and griefs of the 
present life, let us rather look forward to the 
future state of incessant joy, when there shall 
be no more death, neither sorrow, nor cry- 
ing — when ''God shall wipe away all tears 
from our eyes" — and when "mourning shall 
flee away." 
4 



38 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



GIVING THE CUP OF CONSOLATION. 

I ONCE attended an African funeral on 
Sherbro Island. It was a mournful scene. 
The deceased, a little boy about ten years 
old, lay in a small house, made of mud and 
sticks, and thatched with leaves of the bam- 
boo tree. Near the corpse sat the mother in 
the dust of the earthen floor, tearing her hair 
with her hands, and uttering the most piteous 
cries. The accustomed mourners were there, 
and their w^ailings could be heard in the vil- 
lages around. The father sat in silence in a 
small apartment near the main entrance to 
the open court, where the people were begin- 
ning to assemble. 

I noticed that each one of the neighbors 
and acquaintances of the famih' brought a 
present of some sort, and after the usual sa- 
lutations were over, passed it into the hand 
of the afflicted father, who handed it to an 
attending servant, to be laid aside for the 
funeral feast. The presents were either some 
articles of food or drink, or else something 
that could be exchanged for the native palm- 
Y/ine of the country, or for rum and other 
liquors sold by European traders on other 
parts of the island ; and they were brought. 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 39 



as I learned from one of the natives, "to 
comfort the hearts of the father and mother, 
and to make supper for the company," — that 
is, to provide a feast to be held that night, 
when sympathizing friends would invite the 
bereft family to partake of food to strengthen 
them, and of drink to revive their drooping 
spirits, and drive away their sorrows. 

Accordingly, when the corpse had been 
deposited in the earth, a large company of 
friends and acquaintances returned to the 
house to attend the usual feast. Although 
the mourners remained, and continued their 
lamentations, yet the feast went on, attended 
wnth noise and revelry. All this was done 
professedly to console the sorrowing relatives 
of the deceased, and to enable them to bear 
their afflictions. 

An allusion to a custom like this is found 
in Jer. xvi. 7 and 8, where the prophet, de- 
scribing the manner in which funeral rites 
would be neglected in the dreadful ruin that 
was to overtake the Jewish nation, says, 
'' Neither shall men give them the cup of 
consolation, to drink for their father or for 
their mother. Thou shalt not also go unto 
the house of feasting, to sit with them to eat 



40 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



and to drink." The meaning seems to be, 
that in these sore calamities, the usual fune- 
ral observances would be forgotten — that 
death would become so common, and distress 
would fall so heavily upon all, that none 
would attempt to aiford comfort to others, by 
presenting the accustomed refreshments, and 
holding the funeral feast. 

This may have been a heathen practice, 
but it was, perhaps, somewhat prevalent 
among the degenerate Jews of that period ; 
for they were much inclined to adopt pagan 
usages, although they were so strictly for- 
bidden to follow the ways of the Gentiles, 
Jeremiah simply alludes to it here as a well 
known practice, without saying anything 
about its fitness or unfitness for such occa- 
sions. But he assures them that the time 
will come when this, as well as other formali- 
ties, however firmly adhered to then, will be 
laid aside and forgotten in the terrible cala- 
mities which their sins were bringing upon 
them. 



A 



CUSTOMS IX AFRICA. 41 



CASTINa BREAD UPON THE WATERS. 

The negroes of Africa are extremely fond 
of rice as an article of food. It is eaten by- 
all classes of people, and in large quantities. 
The king and the slave — strong men and 
feeble women — the old and the young, 
all desire it as their daily food. The rice- 
harvest is the most joj'Ous season of the year ; 
and the failure of this favorite crop is cause 
for great alarm and sorrow in every village. 
Rice is conspicuous in the daily market — it is 
the subject of conversation among epicures, 
and is often extolled in songs and ballads 
throughout the land. It is the black man's 
" bread,'' 

Not long after my arrival on the coast, I 
employed a day-laborer whom I agreed to 
"furnish with bread/' or to board, while em- 
ployed at the work. On his arrival the first 
morning, I gave him what I considered a 
substantial breakfast of the same provisions 
of which I myself partook ; but I was obliged 
afterwards to add the regular quantity of rice, 
as he insisted that he could not be boarded 
according to contract without rice, which was 
his ''bread." 

This grain is grown in Africa, both on the 
4* 



42 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



rolling lands of the hill country, and on the 
low jQat regions along the creeks and rivers. 
That which is produced on the upland is sown 
at the beginning of the rainy season, and is 
nourished by the continuous rains; but that 
which is grown on the lowlands is sown at 
the close of the wet season, when the waters 
that have spread over the country from the 
overflowing of the streams, have not entirely 
receded to the channels, but still form a shal- 
low covering on the surface of the ground. 
On these water-covered fields, the sower goes 
forth scattering upon the surface of the water, 
the rice-grains, which, having settled into the 
mud beneath, quickly send forth their thrifty 
shoots. The water remaining for some time, 
causes sufficient moisture for the growth of 
the stalk, and by the time it has attained its 
height, the water disappears, and the return- 
ing dryness and heat of the earth soon cause 
the grain to ripen. 

Now, since the Africans regard rice as their 
bread, and since they sow it on the water- 
covered fields, their rice sowing may be called 
" Casting bread upon the waters;" and it is 
to this custom, no doubt, that Solomon alludes 
in Ecclesiastes xi. 1, where he says, " Cast thy 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 43 



bread upon the waters, for thou shalt find it 
after many days." In Egypt (a part of Africa) 
and perhaps in some other countries which 
were known to the Jews in Solomon's time, 
rice was much used as an article of food or 
''bread," and was commonly sown in the 
manner just described ; and therefore the Jews 
w^ould readily understand the figure which is 
here employed. 

Anj^ one unacquainted with the business 
of growing rice, on seeing the sower cast 
the precious seed into the muddy vrater, 
might suppose that it was all lost; but if, 
after some months, he were to look again, 
and see the ripe stalks which have sprung 
from the buried seed, stand laden with fifty 
times as many grains as were sown, he would 
conclude that the bread that had been cast 
upon the water w^as seen again after many 
days. 

But Solomon uses this figure to show the 
benefit of benevolent acts or deeds of charity ; 
— to show that what men do for charitable 
objects is not done in vain, although they 
may not be able immediately to see the re- 
sults. It is like the seed-rice cast into the 
watery ground ; for a while, indeed, it is out 
of sight, but in due time it will yield a large 



44 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



return. Solomon would there say that money 
given to sustain missions, and to educate or- 
phans, and to feed the poor, is not thrown 
away, as some seem to think, but that it will 
at some future time bring its reward. Either 
at some later period in this life the giver will 
see and perhaps enjoy the good that he has 
done, or if not, he will be abundantly re- 
warded in Heaven for all the favor which he 
has shown to the needy and ignorant in this 
world. 

Many years ago a little pagan boy was 
taken out of a slave-ship at the colony of 
Sierra Leone, in Western Africa, and placed 
in a mission-school at that town. After spend- 
ing some years in this school, he was sent to 
England, and w^as thoroughly educated and 
prepared to preach the Gospel. All this cost 
the missionary society considerable money 
and labor ; but it was like casting bread upon 
the waters, for he afterwards returned to 
Africa as a missionary, and is now laboring 
w^ith much success among the people of his 
own tribe in the city of Abbeokuta, where 
he has established schools and a Christian 
church. Thus are the missionary society and 
its friends finding their bread again after 
many days. But, in a future day, much 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 45 



greater results will be seen, when hundreds 
of these once heathen people, cleansed from 
their corruption, shall enter into the paradise 
above. 



DEFENDING TOWNS WITH WALLS OF 
FIRE. 

In most parts of the west coast of Africa, 
there are immense numbers of little black 
ants, not more than one-fourth of an inch 
long, and shaped much like the common 
black ant of our own country. Thej^ travel 
from place to place in close columns, gener- 
ally not more than an inch wide, but often a 
quarter of a mile in length. One of these 
columns or lines of march, when seen at a 
little distance, extending across a beaten path 
or road, resembles a black leathern line or 
rein, such as is used on coach-horses. 

Although so diminutive, these ants evince 
great spirit and determination. "When on 
their march they can hardly be turned out of 
their course ; and if disturbed, they make a 
united and furious attack upon any intruder, 
frorh the insignificant wood-mouse to the 
ponderous elephant, and none can withstand 
them. They crawl into the mouths and eyes 



46 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



of the larger animals, as well as all over their 
bodies, and piercing the surface with their 
little nipper-shaped jaws, produce a burning 
sensation not unlike that caused by the sting 
of a bee. So great are their numbers, and 
so vindictive are their assaults, that both men 
and animals are compelled to yield the ground 
and allow them to pass on, which they are 
certain to do without much delay, unless they 
find some carcass to devour. In their march 
they drive wild beasts from their lairs in the 
thick jungle, and also people from their OAvn 
houses in populous towns ; and it is perhaps 
owing to this fact of their driving everything 
before them that they are called ''Drivers;'' 
for they are known by that name throughout 
the country. 

The only means by which I have known 
the natives of the country to bring these de- 
termined little creatures to a halt, or to turn 
them out of their line of march when ap- 
proaching a town, is to kindle a long train 
of fire in advance of them. K this fiery wall 
is extended along the side of the town at 
which they approach, and if it is kept up for 
a time, the ''drivers'' are compelled to turn 
back or change their route. 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 47 



This practice may illustrate the force of the 
figure which God employs to express his pro- 
tection of Jerusalem. In Zech. ii. 5, He says, 
"I will be unto her a wall of tire round 
about." This promise was made on the con- 
dition that the inhabitants of that great city 
would remain faithful to the true God ; and 
it declares that so long as they would thus 
continue, he would place around them the 
most complete protection — protection like a 
wall of fire, through w^hich no enemy could 
pass. 

It is not likely that the figure in the text 
just quoted has any allusion to the particular 
custom of making fires to ward off such in- 
sects as the Drivers of Africa ; but it certainly 
does allude to the practice common in many 
countries, and among various nations, both 
ancient and modern, of keeping up fires dur- 
ing the night to prevent ferocious animals 
from attacking persons who may be lodging 
out of doors. Such wild beasts are known to 
dread a blazing fire, and will not approach 
very near it to injure even a solitary w^ood- 
man. A circular line of fires, therefore, kept 
up about an encampment during the night, 
is a most complete security against danger- 
ous animals ; and as in former times many 



48 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



such animals dwelt in the forests and rocky 
hills of Canaan, the Jews were familiar with 
their nature and habits, and could well com- 
prehend the meaning and force of the pro- 
mise that God would be to them " a wall of 
fire." 

How safe at all times are they who confi.- 
dently trust in God, and earnestly strive to 
obey him — who put their trust in the Al- 
mighty. Though dangers may surround them 
like howling beasts of prey gather about the 
belated traveller, yet he will encircle them 
with the arm of his providence, and his un- 
seen presence, like a fiery wall, will turn back 
or consume every approaching ill. "The 
Lord shall preserve thee from all evil ; he . 
shall preserve thy souk" "There shall no 
evil befall thee." 



WASHING HANDS IN INNOCENCY. 

Hostilities had existed between a number 
of Sherbro and Mendi chiefs for many months 
— numerous towns had been destroyed — hun- 
dreds of people had been slain in battle, or 
otherwise put to death — and hundreds more 
had been carried away by their captors and 
sold into slavery. The agricultural and ma- 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 49 



nufacturing pursuits common in the country 
were all neglected ; and the people who sur- 
vived were driven into the walled towns, 
where multitudes were on the point of pe- 
rishing for ;want of food. 

Under these extreme sufferings the people 
on both sides earnestly desired an end of the 
war; and finally a meeting was called, to 
which all the kings and chiefs involved in the 
strife were invited, to form a treaty of peace. 
A place called Yawney on Sherbro Island, 
the burying ground of the kings of Sherbro 
for generations past, was the point selected 
for this assemblage. 

There were present to take part in the pro- 
ceedings, eight or ten kings and chiefs from 
various parts of the country, and also a num- 
ber of persons who appeared as representa- 
tives of those kings, who were unable to be 
present themselves. Besides these, a large 
collection of inferior chiefs, headmen and 
common people • attended as spectators and 
witnesses of the proceedings. The spot on 
which they were assembled was a sort of sa- 
cred campus, immediately surrounded by the 
graves of their departed fathers, and over- 
shadowed by the wide-spreading branches of 
magnificent trees. An air of solemnity per- 
5 D 



50 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



vaded the assemblage, and ran througli all 
the doings of the day. 

After much deliberation and discussion, 
the terms of the treat}^ were settled, and hav- 
ing renounced all hostility to each other, and 
having promised to adhere to the agreement 
just formed, the parties proceeded formally 
to confirm the whole according to the custom 
of the country. This was done in the follow- 
ing manner. The kings, chiefs, and repre- 
sentatives, all stood in a circle in the midst 
of the consecrated ground ; a vessel filled with 
clean water was placed in the centre, and 
each one after dipping his hand in the water, 
to signify his cleansing himself from all past 
enmity, extended it to those of the opposite 
party in renewed friendship. At the conclu- 
sion of this significant ceremonj^, it was an- 
nounced that the peace treaty was ratified, 
and that all again were friends. I noticed 
that some of the chiefs who cheerfully gave 
their consent to the terms of the treaty hesi- 
tated much, and even trembled as they parti- 
cipated in this impressive formula : thereby 
showing that they regarded it as more sacred 
and binding than their own solemn declara- 
tions and promises. 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 51 



This ceremony bears some resemblance to 
that which Jehovah established among the 
Jews, and which is described in the twenty- 
first chapter of Deuteronomy. We there learn 
that if a slain or murdered man was found in 
the field, and the authorities could not disco- 
ver who slew him, the elders of the town 
nearest the place were to take a heifer to an 
uncultivated valley, and having beheaded 
her, to '^ wash their hands over the heifer," 
and to say, " Our hands have not shed this 
blood (the blood of the slain man,) neither 
have our eyes seen it." This washing of 
hands appears therefore to have been designed 
as a formal declaration that the people of the 
town were not guilty of the murder. 

To this usage, most likely, David alludes, 
when he says, Ps. xxvi. 6, ''I will wash my 
hands in innocency." And to the same 
striking ceremony Pilate resorted to signify 
that he would have no part in the condemna- 
tion of the Saviour. For after he had, in 
words, again and again testified to the inno- 
cence of Christ, and had refused to pronounce 
a formal sentence against him, we are told 
(Matt, xxvii. 24) that ''He took water and 
washed his hands before the multitude, say- 
ing, I am innocent of the blood of this just 



62 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



person." He no doubt designed by thus 
washing his hands to disavow in the most 
positive manner all participation in that aw- 
ful transaction. 

It would have been well for Pilate if he 
had been as free from guilt in this matter as 
this part of his conduct, in itself, indicated. 
But, as a ruler, he should not only have re- 
fused to condemn this "just person," but 
should also have protected him from his per- 
secutors. This Pilate did not do, and he was 
therefore guilty. 

USE OF TALISMANS OR CHAEMS. 

One of the most prominent features in the 
heathenism of Africa is the use of charms, 
generally called " Greegrees" or "Fetiches." 
The tribes on the West Coast universally in- 
dulge in this species of superstition, although 
some of them may practice it less extensively, 
and adhere to it with less tenacity than do 
others. 

The " Greegrees" are mostly invented by 
the native priests. They are composed of va- 
rious materials, put up in different forms, and 
used for numerous purposes. Some are images 
made of wood, clay, or stone, and set up at 



i 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 53 



the entrances of towns and private dwellings 
to secure the safety of the inhabitants ; others 
are small amulets composed of sand or clay 
of a certain kind, leaves of a particular tree, 
scraps of paper containing a few marks or 
characters, and incased in leather or cloth, so 
as to be worn on some part of the body. 

Although the Africans do not often worship 
their Greegrees, or regard them as gods in- 
vested with creative power, yet they hold 
them very sacred, and believe them to be a 
reliable means by which innumerable benefits 
are secured, and many evils daily avoided. 
The African sometimes whispers or mumbles 
to the Greegree his wants, and also thanks 
it when he has escaped any threatened cala- 
mity ; but on being asked how a thing that 
has neither intelligence nor life can deliver 
people from danger, he generally replies that 
it cannot do so itself, but that in some way 
through it the benefit is obtained. 

At several places in the Mindi country I 
saw earthen pots filled with bones, and horns, 
and herbs, and numerous other things, and 
placed at the entrances of gardens, and near 
fruit trees, to prevent the approach of thieves. 
A head-man of a village on Sherbro Island 
kept, on a covered platform at the side of his 



64 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



house, two large sea-shells to promote the 
health and growth of his twin children. A 
heathen priest near the mission, fastened a 
mat to the ground near a large ant-hill, in 
order to effect the decline and death of his 
enemy simultaneously with the destruction 
of the mat by the voracious insects. A na- 
tive chief on Sherbro Island kept a stone 
image at the side of his door to secure the 
general prosperity of his household. When 
I asked him who made the image, he replied 
that he supposed God made it, or if he did 
not, he could tell nothing about its origin, as 
I ' he had never heard of its being made by any 

' one. It was perhaps many generations old. 

At the Gambia river, I saw a native from the 
interior part of the country, on whose person 
I could count as many as thirty Greegrees, 
each of which was designed to ward off" some 
particular evil, or secure some special good ; 
and yet with all these supposed means of 
safety, he w^ould not so much as allow me to 
put my linger on any part of his body ; but 
fled whenever I approached to examine his 
rare collection of amulets. 

It is thus seen, that although the Africans 
have very few idols, and very seldom engage 
in idol worship, still they superstitiously rely 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 55 



on an endless variety of talismans or charms, 
for the common advantages and comforts of 
life. And this use of Greegrees is certainly 
so.mewhat like the use of the Seraphim or 
talismans among the ancient heathen nations, 
so often mentioned in the Bible. 

In Gen. xxxi. 19, we read that Eachel, who 
was the daughter of Laban, '' stole the images 
that were her father's,'' and carried them 
away with her when she left her father's 
house to accompany her husband Jacob to 
the Land of Canaan. In the thirtieth verse 
of the same chapter, Laban calls these images 
his '-gods;" and from the thirty-third verse 
it is evident that he valued them very highly, 
and was exceedingly anxious to regain them. 
It is clear enough that Laban, who at best 
seems to have been an unfair man, and much 
addicted to low cunning, was in the habit of 
using these images for superstitious purposes. 
And by long indulgence in this practice he 
had doubtless become very superstitious, and 
was therefore greatly alarmed at the loss of 
his supposed means of safety and prosperity. 
I have often observed that scarcely any thing 
will cause the African heathen so much un- 
easiness as the loss of their Greegrees. 



56 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



Rachel, however, kept these gods, and La- 
bau was obliged to return home without them. 
This was all well enough if she did it to show 
her father the folly of trusting in idols. But 
as she had been under her father's training 
during her whole childhood and youth, it is 
more likely that she had imbibed his pagan 
notions, and still retaining some degree of 
confidence in the power of his gods, she car- 
ried them with her, either to prevent her 
father from employing them against her and 
her family, or else to use them for her own 
protection in the strange land to which she 
was going. At the same time, it appears that 
she was ashamed to let Jacob know that she 
entertained such feelings, and that she had 
the images in her possession ; for it is stated 
(Gen. xxxi. 32,) that " Jacob knew not that 
Rachel had stolen them." I have known 
some African converts to Christianity to act 
just in the same manner — that is, secretly to 
adhere to some of their superstitious opinions 
for a long time, although they were carefully 
instructed in the truths of the Bible. Sinful 
habits and opinions that are formed in youth 
are hard to correct in after-life. 

But whether Rachel retained these images 
for superstitious purposes or not, w^e learn 



CUSTOMS IN APRICA. 57 



from the thirty-fifth chapter of Genesis that 
Jacob, some years afterwards, found false 
gods of some kind in his family ; for, in the 
second verse of that chapter, it is stated, that. 
''Jacob said unto his household, and to all 
that were with him, put away the strange 
gods that are among you ;" and accordingly, 
in the fourth verse, it is added, that " They 
gave unto Jacob all the strange gods that 
were in their hands, and all their ear-rings 
which were in their ears ; and Jacob hid them 
under the oak which was by Shechem/' 
Perhaps Laban's gods were among these, and 
perhaps Eachel's having them had encouraged 
other members of the family to procure some 
of the talismans or charms (such as the ear- 
rings mentioned) from the heathen people 
around them. It is not safe to indulge even 
a little in a known sinful practice, for it is 
very likely to lead to gross and ruinous trans- 
gression. 



OBSERVING SIGNS — PRACTISING DIVI- 
NATION. 

The heathen negroes almost universally 
believe in the revelation of future events by 
certain appearances and occurrences, with 



68 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



which the events can have no possible con- 
nection. All classes of people, therefore, pro- 
fess to know many signs of things yet future, 
and much time is spent in their observance 
and interpretation. The departure of a flock 
of "rice-birds" from their accustomed home 
in the top of a cotton-wood tree, near a town, 
is regarded as a sign that the place will soon 
be destroyed by some wanton plunderers, or 
some vindictive enemy. But the settlement 
of a troop of these little songsters is equally 
as certain a token of the town's safety, al- 
though the country may be invaded by hos- 
tile troops. Real and imagined appearances 
in the sky are thought to foreshadow some 
dreadful calamity, or some remarkable feli- 
city. The dreams of the night portend the 
good or bad fortune of the comiug day. 

But, in addition to all this attention to the 
precursors of coming events, the Africans 
sometimes seek oracular instructions in deter- 
mining matters of great importance, such as 
undertaking a campaign against an enemy. 
The most prominent, perhaps, of these augu- 
ries is that of consulting what, on the Boom 
river, is called the " Tassaw,'' This is a sort 
of oracle kept by a secret association called 
the Purrah^ the members of which are accus- 



k 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 59 



tomed to hold meetings in dense jungles set 
apart for that purpose, and there to engage 
in singing and dancing, to invoke the spirit 
that is supposed to speak through the Tassaw, 
to the officials of the order. After these exer- 
cises, which none but the members are allowed 
to witness, the whole societj- comes forth and 
holds a public meeting in the " barre," or 
town-hall, where questions of public interest 
are sometimes discussed, and decisions an- 
nounced. But the decisions are more generally 
given during night meetings held in the deep 
jungles, and are announced in a loud and 
hollow voice, so as to terrify the people who 
are listening without. These utterances are 
said to proceed directly from the Tassaw, or 
else are the precise interpretations of what it 
has in some other manner revealed. 

At the town of Kissahull, I once saw the 
Purrah assembled in the "5arr^," with the 
Tassaw in their midst, deliberating upon some 
measures to promote the peace of the coun- 
try. The Tassaw was a large bowl-shaped 
vessel, decorated with feathers of large birds, 
and supported by eight human thigh-bones. 
The bones were not placed perpendicularly 
under the vessel, but were so inclined that 
every pair crossed, taking the form of the 



60 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



letter X; and at two of the points of intersec- 
tion, human skulls were made fast, facing 
outward, and having pieces of mica inserted 
in the eye-sockets, in imitation of eyes. The 
whole structure was painted in a variety of 
colors, and in a most fantastic manner. We 
were told that the bones and skulls were 
taken from persons slain for the purpose, and 
that those of an individual who had died an 
ordinary death, or had been slain in battle, 
could not be used in constructing the Tassaw. 

These oracles, however, are made in a great 
variety of forms, some of them not at all like 
the one just described; and many of them are 
not exposed to the view of the people at any 
time, being carefully concealed in the ''Pur- 
rah Bush." 

No doubt some of the leaders in this order 
know that the oracle itself can give no deci- 
sions or responses of any kind, and are in- 
duced to carry on the deception by the advan- 
tages which in various ways it aflfords them. 
But perhaps the majority of even the leading 
Purrah men are so blinded by superstition, 
that thej^ resort to these auguries with since- 
rity and confidence. They have no well-de- 
fined theories in regard to the matter, but in 
the absence of better teachings they blindly 



r 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 61 



and vaguely rely on their Tassaw for direction 
in matters of perplexity and doubt. 

By the same blind feeling, perhaps, the an- 
cient Canaanites were led to practice the su- 
perstitious rites for which they were so noted 
in their day. At least they observed signs 
and consulted auguries of some kind ; for 
Moses, speaking to the Israelites in regard to 
them, saj^s (Deut. xviii. 14,) " These nations 
which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto ob- 
servers of times, and unto diviners.'' And it 
appears that they were accustomed to assem- 
ble in groves, as the Africans do now; for 
Moses, in giving instruction to his people in 
regard to breaking up these superstitious 
practices, says (Ex. xxxiv. 13,) "Ye shall de- 
stroy their altars, break their images, and cut 
down their groves." 

The ancient Babylonians also practiced 
arts of divination, as will appear from the 
representation that Ezekiel gives of their 
king having resorted to such means to deter- 
mine which of the two cities, Jerusalem or 
Eabbath, he should first besiege when he had 
invaded the Holy Land, and had advanced 
to a place where the road parted — one branch 
leading to Jerusalem, and the other to Eab- 
6 



62 SCRIP TUEE SCENES AND 



bath. This description is given in Ezek. xxi. 
2I5 and reads thus: '' The king of Babylon 
stood at the parting of the way, at the head 
of two ways, to use divination : he made his 
arrows bright, he consulted with images, he 
looked in the liver/' Here are mentioned 
three methods of augury — first, to draw from 
the quiver two arrows, as lots, with the names 
of the two cities on them, under the idea that 
the first name drawn is the city first to be 
besieged — second, to seek some kind of re- 
sponse from images — and third, to examine 
the livers of a recently slaughtered animal, 
to learn from their soundness or decay, their 
color or position, the prospects of the expe- 
dition against each city. 

The Babylonians were, in their day, a great 
people ; and the fact that their rulers and 
commanders would allow themselves to be 
directed in their most important undertakings 
by such uncertain and absurd counsels as 
these, shows how liable men are to fall into 
error when not instructed in the doctrines of 
the Bible. 




I 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 63 



MINGLING TRUE AND FALSE RELIGIONS. 

There was a chief in the Sherbro, who had, 
in part at least, adopted the Mahometan reli- 
gion, and carefull}^ practiced many of its 
rites, along with numerous pagan forms and 
observances. In accordance with Mahome- 
tanism he had ''five wives and no more" — 
abstained entirely from the use of spirituous 
liquors — ate no flesh of swine — refused to 
partake of the meat of any animal or fowl 
that had not been slain by a priest, and 
statedly attended to the specified prayers. 
But at tJie same time he adhered to many 
pagan notions and pagan usages. 

In a conversation which I had with this 
man, I found him entirel}^ Avilling to add yet 
to the medley of religious creeds and forms, 
which he had already adopted, at least a few 
items of the Christian faith and practice. 
He remarked that he then had some of his 
children at the Mission School, and had se- 
veral times heard preaching at his own town ; 
and that havino* observed nothinof wrono: in 
our religion, and believing it to have some 
virtues, he was in favor of having it intro- 
duced among his people, along with what 
they already had, so that they might enjoy 



64 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



the aggregate good- of all. I attempted to 
show him the completeness and superiority 
of the Christian religion, and therefore the 
propriety of receiving it entire, and to the 
exclusion of the others ; but he argued that 
such a course would be manifestly unwise, 
since by receiving only the one, he would be 
confined to the excellencies of one, while by 
accepting them all, he would secure their 
combined virtues. The fact that these dif- 
ferent systems embraced things incompatible 
with each other, presented to his mind no 
difficulty whatever, and therefore he was 
ready to adopt, in some vague manner, cer- 
tain parts of the Gospel, or perhaps the whole 
of it, in connection with the Pagan and Ma- 
hometan tenets which he already professed. 

This attempt to blend opposite religious 
systems reminds one of a similar instance de- 
scribed in the seventeenth chapter of Judges. 
It is there related that a man named Micah, 
of Mount Ephraim, had a sort of family cha- 
pel, which, as it seems, was designed for the 
worship of the true God, but into which 
Micah had introduced some of both Jewish 
and Pagan rites and ordinances. In the fifth 
verse of the chapter, we read that ''Micah 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 65 



had a house of gods, and made an ephod, 
and a teraphim, and consecrated one of his 
sons, who became his priest." The ephod 
was part of a Jewish priest's dress, and this 
one was probably made similar to those nsed 
in the tabernacle ; but the teraphim were no 
doubt the two silver images mentioned in 
the fourth verse of the same chapter, and 
were such as were used by the heathen gen- 
erally at that time. The first priest, Micah's 
son, was most likely as ignorant and as des- 
titute of piety as himself, and the one after- 
wards procured was a low-minded Levite, 
who Avas wandering about the country, and 
was willing to engage in acts of idolatry for 
the small sum of money which Micah paid 
him. 

It seems strange that Micah, who belonged 
to one of the tribes of Israel, would engage 
in this senseless and idolatrous scheme; but 
this instance shows how easilj^ men are led 
astray in matters of religion. Micah perhaps 
thought that the ample provisions which he 
had here made would secure him the highest 
favors ; and in the thirteenth verse he ex- 
presses this confidence in these words : "Now 
know I that the Lord will do me o-ood, seeino; 
I have a Levite to my priest." How many, 
6* E 



66 SCRIPTUKE SCENES AND 



like Micah, substitute something of their own 
for what God has commanded, and then in- 
dulge a vain confidence in their religious 
performances ! 



HANDING DOWN TKADITIONS. 

The pagans of Africa do not understand 
the art of writing, and therefore have no writ- 
ten laws, or histories, or records of anj'kind. 
But they have handed down by tradition a 
vast amount of historic information and other 
useful instruction, in the forms of anecdotes, 
fables, and proverbs. These are often re- 
peated by the older people to the children 
and youth, who take great delight in hearing 
them, and carefully treasure them up in their 
own minds for future use. 

Not only are the traditions of the past thus 
handed down to the rising race, but also the 
remarkable events of their own times, after 
having been investigated hy the principal 
men of the town, and put into proper form, 
are communicated to the people, and repeated 
at their gatherings, till fully impressed upon 
the public mind. Some persons who have 
more retentive memories than is common, 
and take particular pleasure in these recitals, 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 67 



become noted for their stores of knowledge; 
and these, as well as the old men generally, 
are often seen surrounded by eager groups 
of listeners, to whom they are narrating the 
things which they have in like manner learned 
from others. 

Such discourses are frequently delivered 
about the gates of the village — in the public 
barre — and in the pleasant shade of the 
orange and plantain trees that so commonly 
ornament the towns; but they are more 
generally recited in the open court belonging 
to many of the African houses. Many, par- 
ticularly of the chiefs and head men, construct 
their dwellings in such away as to inclose an 
uncovered square in the centre. This square 
has an inner entrance from all the apartments 
of the house ; but the entrance from without 
is through the front building, so that the 
court is a place of seclusion and safety. 

In this inclosed space, retired from the 
tumult of the town, the family, made up of 
several wives and their children, together 
with other friends and acquaintances, fre- 
quently sit till a late hour during the moon- 
light nights, and eagerly listen to the numer- 
ous recitals of the older members of the 
company. At the conclusion of a story or a 



68 SCRIPTURE SCENES AND 



fable, the gratified listeners often return 
thanks to the speaker, and sometimes the 
exercises are varied b}" the singing of a short 
song or ballad. 

How frequently, while witnessing these in- 
teresting scenes, have I thought of such Scrip- 
ture passages as that of Joel i. 3 : — ^'Tell ye 
your children of it, and let joxir children tell 
their children, and their children another 
generation." The admonition here given is 
that the father should make known from ge- 
neration to generation, God's terrible threat- 
enings against sin, and thereby deter them 
from it, and thus save the nation from ruin. 

In these ancient times, the art of printing 
was unknown, and there were but few ivritten 
books ; and many of the people could not 
have read, if books had been given them. 
The manuscript copies of the Scriptures were 
mostly in the hands of the priests and the 
scribes, and therefore, like the natives of 
Africa at the present time, the people had to 
depend chiefl}^ on oral traditions. It was 
partly on this account, perhaps, that Moses, 
after having given the Law of God to the 
Israelites, so earnestly exhorted them to re- 
peat it often to their children. He says (Deut. 



CUSTOMS IN AFRICA. 69 



vi. 6 and 7,) " And all these words which I 
command thee this day shall be in thy heart ; 
and thou shalt teach them diligently unto 
thy children, and shalt talk of them when 
thou sittest in thine house, and when thou 
walkest by the way, and when thou liest 
down, and when thou risest up/' 

We now enjoy great advantages in having 
printed copies of the Bible and other good 
books furnished so plentifully, and at so little 
cost ; but still it is very necessary that chil- 
dren receive much verbal instruction from 
their parents, and from other pious persons 
of age and experience. 



THE END. 






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